Wounds
by Dead-Or-Not
Summary: The girls get found and Wolf pays the price. Claire's stupidity crumples the trust Nikki has in her. Follows 'The Club'; OCs


"Crap ... crap ... crap!" I curse while running.

How on Earth did the bastards find us anyway? I just ran into a group of those Special Forces responsible for finding and whipping out vampires and Lycans. They stopped me and shoved a picture of someone into my face asking if I knew the person.

I first gave them a cold stare for their rudeness, took the photo and looked. If I didn't have the discipline to withhold my emotions I bet my eyes would have popped out at that exact moment. I was looking at a picture of Nikki and Wolf in the back. Since I was unsure who they were actually looking for I gave them a polite smile and replied.

"Not know her per say, but I have seen her couple of times, why?" I ask innocently, hopping to get some info myself as to why they'd be looking for Nikki. I know why they'd be looking for Wolf, it's quite obvious.

"It's an ongoing investigation, I can't disclose the details. Where did you see her?" He responds without giving anything away.

I turned back to the direction I came from and point at a building a little farther away: "I've seen her enter and exit that building a few times."

"Thank you, ma'am. You should really be inside at this hour of the night, it may not be safe." He says and turns towards where I pointed.

"Yeah, I'm just on the way home, thanks." I pretended to be thankful. So I turn around and walk normally on, so as not to look suspicious. The moment I was out of their sights however, I started sprinting to our apartment that was not so far away.

And here I am running like my life is on the line.

I burst into our apartment, startling Nikki, and first I have to get my breathing in order.

"We gotta run, they found us!" I finally utter in a bit of a panicked voice.

Strange I don't usually panic in these kinds of situations. Nikki just stares at me like I've grown another head, which irritates me, so I come closer to her, face to face and tell her again in a slow manner.

"We've been found by the cops, WE NEED TO LEAVE, NOW!" Obviously that got through her block or whatever that was.

I start to pack things we'll need and she starts to pack up all her computer junk. Thankfully she has all the important stuff on portable discs and laptop so that means we can fry the rest here. In our frantic packing Wolf came back from her patrol of the other side of town I was in.

She just stands in the doorway looking like we totally lost our minds. I happen to notice her; "Wolf, they found us, I'm not sure who they're looking for, but they had a pic of you and Nikki."

I swear she went pale at that. I've no idea why that would be. Last time she encountered the cops she was all ready to rip them apart, I wonder what's changed. Maybe it has something to do with her past I've no knowledge of.

"Come on we gotta pack, grab what you can!" I say, calmly this time. I've slipped back into my training and it's making me grasp the situation with calm and exact measures.

Not long after Wolf's arrival, I hear the cops making quite a racket below our apartment building. There's also considerably more of them I hear that I saw before. I turn to Wolf and grab her bag: "You go and distract them, I'll take Nikki and our stuff outta here."

"Wha?! Why me?! And where are we going?" She asked with a maybe little panic in her voice. I swear she got paler at that. I think it odd, she's never like this, what's going on that I don't know?

I don't have time to ponder on this at this moment, so I explain: "You were on the pic too, and you're a much better opponent than Nikki," I give her a knowing look, daring her to object to that fact and we're moving into my safe house. I'll be back for you." I turn and push Nikki out of the window to the fire escape stairs. We climb up so we'd escape over the rooftops, but we land in a surprise as there are already cops there.

I dispatch the five of them without any trouble and we continue our run. Unfortunately Nikki's slowing us down, so I make a decision: "Give me your bags, and get on my back!" She complies without a protest. As soon as I make sure she's safely on my back I make a dash over the city. I hear the first gunfire in the back and a loud bang too. I dismiss them, thinking Wolf knows how to handle herself.

I almost reach my safe house when I notice that Nikki's grip has loosened substantially, so thinking she's just tired I hold onto her. Just before I reach the old warehouse where I made myself a nice nest once, I smell blood.

Not just any blood, strawberry blood.

I panic now, and hurry to the safe house. As I get us inside I feel Nikki slip down, but I catch her. My hand grips at something wet and sticky, and Nikki gives out a moan, one of pain.

"Shit, you've been shot?! Why didn't you say anything?" I demand from her, even though she barely conscious. My mind is reeling.

I strip her of the blood soaked clothes, the temptation is big on my side, but I push the monster back down. I inspect the wound and I see there isn't anything I can really do.

So I do the only thing that I can.

I bite my wrist and place it over her mouth. At first she resists and turns her head away, but I stop her.

"You have to drink it, I can't help you otherwise!" She complies, and drinks hesitantly at first but she takes quite a gulp later. I feel myself getting a tad bit weaker and I remove my wrist, for now: "That's enough to keep you alive till I get Wolf, I'll be back in no time."

I go to my medicine cabinet and bring her some painkillers and bandages: "Here, take these for now and try to get some rest." She gulps down the pills while I hurriedly bandage the wound. I lay her back on the couch, give her a quick kiss on the forehead and leave the safe house.

As I reach our apartment building, our ex-apartment building, I notice 3 snipers on the adjoining buildings. I take them out one by one, and at the last one I take his rifle and look at the circus on the street. I see Wolf's holding her ground with these buggers, but I can detect that by the stance something is not quite as it should be. She's also bleeding in quite a few places, but she has fast healing, shouldn't be anything major. Oh she's gonna have a blast throwing this into my face: 'I got to beat up a whole squad of cops while you ran like the Sucker that you are.' I roll my eyes at that. At that exact same moment Wolf just slumps to the ground, like someone switched her off.

"What the Hell?!" I curse quietly. I see now that there are some people with needles around Wolf and are pumping something into her. I take aim and shoot, taking down two of those bastards. A wicked grin spreads across my face as the crowd disperses below. Little tiny people seeking cover. I take aim again and take another one down, but I reveal my location. So I move to another building while the humans try to flank me on the roof I just vacated. I notice that some others are trying to get Wolf on a stretcher so I take them out with the remaining 3 bullets I have. I go deal with the rest on the roof, they're a piece of cake. I hurry down to Wolf, she has her eyes wide open and I have a feeling she's actually shaken by the ordeal. She, Wolf, shaken … something's so awfully wrong. I think she's got some explaining to do. Only now, so close, do I notice her wounds are not healing. I unstrapped her from the stretcher thinking she'll jump up and we're off to the safe house. But she just lays there and stares at me with frightened eyes.

"Come on, let's go. Get up you fur ball." I try with a little joke to ease her mind, but it's not working. She's making me worry now for real, so I lean down to pick her up, but she's soft as rubber. They must have used some kind of paralyzing dart or something before, that's why she just slumped to the floor. I have little time to get away from all the mess we made, so I pick her up and carry her. I try to be as gentle as possible, given the fact she's not healing. I hear her grunt every now and then, but I keep quiet, this is no time for our famous bickering.

This whole ordeal with the cops, scientists and Wolf's reaction is fishy. I'll be questioning her as soon as she's able to throw some smart remarks back at my face.

I reach the safe house and put Wolf down on the bed, I quickly check on Nikki, but she's sleeping. The painkillers must have kicked in. I smile a sad smile thinking, at least she's not in pain anymore. She looked like a corpse before, now there's some color on those cheeks. I grab the whole first aid kit some towels and hot water and go back to bed to fix up Wolf. I can tell she's still acting tough, but I know she's in excruciating pain. I start with cleaning the wounds, the fact that they're not healing is beginning to really worry me.

"What the fuck did those bastards pump you with?" It's more a question for myself, since she's not at all able to answer, probably didn't even hear me. I patch her up as best I can, my first aid is not exactly on-par. After all, my last official lessons were when I was making the driver's license. And Death Dealers are not exactly taught how to patch up a Lycan, rather the other way around. I give her some painkillers too, and she gulps them with gusto.

As I'm packing the first aid kit and the bloody towels, I hear a grunt from the other room. I enter to find Nikki trying to get up, but she's having trouble, the painkillers were probably not that strong to keep that much exertion numbed.

"What do you think you're doing?" I give her an annoying look, clearly stating that I do not approve of her theatrics.

"I need to pee, badly." She gives a shy smile, and tries to continue her 'Mission toilette'. She would have fallen had I not caught her. I give her a stern look and pick her up, bridal style, and take her to the toilette. She makes some kind of protest, but she's not exactly in a position to argue with me and my face also states it so. As I put her down I start to fiddle with her belt and pants. That's when she grabs my hands and exclaims: "What the Hell are you doing?!"

I look up from my ministrations, to find her face anything like the pale corpse I left before. She was red as a tomato. I would have implied something had the situation not been as serious as it is. So I make a very, VERY serious face and tone: "You're hurt, you can't do this by yourself without hurting yourself even further and I'm not letting you do it either, so deal with it." I take a deep breath and release a loud sigh, "I'm just trying to help, please don't make it harder on yourself." I soften my features in hopes to relax her to the idea, and apparently it worked. She lets go of my hands and grips the wall for balance while I finished unzipping her pants and pulling them down. I help her sit down and I turn around so she can finish in peace.

"I'm done." I hear her say quietly. I turn back around and pick her up. I pick up her pants and zip them back up. Now I pick her up again and carry her to the couch. I need to get her fixed, her I at least know how. First we need to change the bandage, the one from before is all bloody and she'll need some fresh clothes. I go to our bags and I rummage in Nikki's to find her a fresh T-shirt. I pick one of the violet ones, her favorite color. I smile remembering how she came into possession of this specific one. It was a bet she won and one Wolf lost, but it was _me_ who ended buying it tho. She can be such a snake, has me wrapped around her little finger.

On my way back to her I grab the bandages and the disinfectant I practically dropped before, trying to catch her. I peel away the old bandage and inspect the wound. It looks messy, what kind of caliber did they use for gods' sake. The good thing about it being that the bullet went through her. But I wonder how come I didn't get it then, after all, she was on my back.

"How does it look?" She asks in a tired voice.

"Well … you're gonna have some nice battle scars afterwards." I grin, trying to ease the moment. She chuckles as I clean the wound and re-apply a new bandage. I help her put on the fresh T-shirt and lay her down. I slit my wrist again and give it to her. She wrinkles her nose and looks at me for some kind of explanation.

"It'll heal you and the pain will go away sooner." I explain, with a smile on my face. Without a word she takes the offered wrist and drinks heftily from it. As I start to feel myself go weak I pull it away gently. She licks the last drop from her lips and I stop to breathe for a moment. She looks at me with those magical brown eyes and I see there's still pain in them, so I give her some more painkillers. As she lies down and soon falls asleep I clean the mess I made and wander outside to get some fresh air. The place is overflow with the smell of blood and I need to get out because of the loss of my own blood I've become quite hungry.

As I prowl the empty streets of the city for my next meal, I contemplate what just happened. How did everything go so wrong in such a short time? I make a face at the thought and try to re-assess the situation. I go back to the moment I was stopped by those fucking cops and try to find out what and who they were actually after. At first I was sure it was Nikki they were after, but thinking on everything that happened … They might have actually been after Wolf. And after the reactions I got from her I'm quite positive that's the case.

I turn down another street and end up in-front of the grocery store. The funny thing is, I see movement in it. Odd. It's night, who would be in there at this time? That also reminds me, I need to get some provisions for us, since the fridge has been empty for quite some time. So I decide to investigate the ruckus.

As I try the door it almost falls off its hinges on me, only my superior strength prevents that from happening. I put the doors down quietly and enter the store. I hear several voices. This must be my lucky night, I'm starving and I can get the groceries as well. A wicked grin spreads over my pale and tired face. I decide to strike assassin style, pick them out one at a time.

They were common thieves, no better than scavengers looking for an easy profit, thinking that they would be safe at night. How wrong they were; I own the night, I own the shadows. And I use the shadows in the store to hide my presence from them, until they scatter into three different parts of the store. Remembering my training I decided to take them out quietly, since the last thing I need is another rundown with the cops.

The first one is roaming around the freezers, where humans store their meat and fish, to preserve them longer I take it. By the time he notices me I am already grabbing his neck, while my other hand covers his mouth. I suck most of his pathetic life until the other guy notices me and starts yelling frantically.

I drop the body and before it hits the ground I silence the loud robber, while I hear footsteps a few aisles to my left. Then I hear a loud clang, the last robber had a gun! He walks slowly and cautiously through the aisles, I can see him trembling, I can hear his heart beating like crazy and I can sense the beats within me laugh at the sensation.

However this was _my_ lunch and not some blood feast for the wicked. I'm not going to allow myself to stoop to that low level of savagery ever again! I silently walk after him while he gasps at the sight of his companions. I see an opening and use it to disarm him and grab him by the neck, his eyes fill with horror and he silently whispers, realizing what I was at the sight of my fangs, as they slip from my wicked smile.

He begs for his life, a life he'd no doubt waste doing the same thing again. I was sparing him of a long agonizing curse that is his life, he just didn't know it. I lower his neck next to my face and take a good bite, enjoying in my meal after all that I've been through today.

I was careful this time and didn't let the demon in me take over, unlike that time in the club. I really messed up then. I start to gather what we'll need, well actually, what Nikki and Wolf will need. I already got what I needed from the robbers. After my little shopping spree I decide to go "visit" the blood bank and pick some provisions for myself as well.

By the time I get my ass back to the … back home, it is starting to dawn. First thing I notice when I close the door is that Nikki's not on the couch. I make a face at that and shake my head: "The girl's gonna be the death of me." So I go hunting for her.

First I check the toilette again, no luck there. I check the kitchen, maybe she was hungry and wanted to eat something, not that she could, the fridge is empty. I find the kitchen empty, no sign of Nikki. I get a little worried, she didn't go outside or anything I hope. But then I hear some noises in one of the rooms, so I investigate.

I find her in the bedroom, sitting on the bed and looking sad, holding Wolf's hand. I get the feeling I'm intruding so I turn around to leave, but she stops me with the question that's been in the back of my mind ever since I unstrapped Wolf from the stretcher.

"Why isn't she healing?" Her sad melodic voice penetrates the suffocating silence.

I'm silent, my back to her, I don't know what to tell her.

"Claire … Wolf's not healing, why isn't she healing?" I hear her voice grow desperate by the second. "You two should heal at the same rate, but it's as if she has been flipped off."

I turn around and walk towards her, as I get near her I notice her shoulders shaking. She's crying, gods, she's crying. She's really gotten attached to this big ball of fur. "Nikki, everything's gonna be fine, don't worry." I put my hand on her shoulder and try to reassure her, when even I'm not sure what's going on and what to do. She buries her face in her palms and it breaks my heart to see her suffer again. I do something I almost never do, I pick her up and embrace her. "I'll fix this, I promise, I'll fix it, OK?"

She nods her head on my chest and I tug on her towards the kitchen. "Come on, Wolf needs to rest. Are you hungry? I went shopping."

At that she looks at me one eyebrow raised. "You, shopping?"

If I were mortal I'd turn tomato red, being a vampire does have its benefits. "Well, yeah. Sort of." I scratch my neck, giving her a nervous smile, but I see she's teasing me. I let her, I need her to relax.

"Come on, at least drink something, to replenish your fluids." I smile and it works. She comes to the kitchen and I make her a … a … I dunno how it's called, but I remember I liked it in my mortal days.

About 1/2L milk, some sugar, and fresh cherries or some other fruit would do too, but I know cherries are her fav. I put it all in a container and mix it up nicely. That should get her some fluids and some vitamins, I hope. I make it with my back turned towards her so she has no idea what she's getting. When I turn around and present her with the concoction she makes a face, but the minute she smells cherries her whole face lights up.

After she downed the Cherry nectar, as she dubbed it, I get her to go rest again. I check on her wound and it is healing nicely. No more bandages needed, but I'm sure there is some internal bruising still on the mend. I just put a big plaster over it and it should suffice.

After I tuck Nikki in, I go check on Wolf. I peel away one of the numerous bandages strewn over her body and examine the wound. It's as if she were mortal again. The gash is superficial, and if everything were normal, it wouldn't even be there anymore. I don't know what to do, how to help her. I was never taught how to heal Lycans, just how to kill them quickly and effectively. So I decide to treat her like a mortal, and even that's gonna be a challenge. I re-dress the wounds with fresh bandages to try and prevent any infections. I put a few painkillers on the nightstand next to a glass of water and a note:"When in pain, take pill!"

It's been 3 days since the attack, and Wolf is still bed ridden, healing at human rate. I don't know what to do, I've tried talking to her, but all I get for an answer is 'I don't know'. Lots of help she's turning out to be.

I've been wrecking my brain out what happened, going back, analyzing everything, but I can't find anything than the fact Wolf was injected with something. Since I'm no doctor I can't really figure out what that thing was. I've tried my luck in the libraries and the internet, with no success. So today I'm gonna do something stupid and I'm not telling anyone about it.

Nikki's wound is practically non-existent besides a small scar that marks the puncture. She's been pressuring me on Wolf's condition and that just reaffirms that she cares for her, no matter the bickering. Hah…. remind you of someone?

I found a doctor, a specialist on Lycans and vampires, at least that what she wrote on her webpage. Although she claims it's only a hobby, her theories are the most accurate I found. I'm going to get her help, but I don't exactly know how I'm going to persuade her yet.

"I'm going out on patrol." I announce to Nikki with a confident voice as not to betray my intentions.

"Are you now?" She uses that 'I-know-that-you're-lying' voice.

I flinch with my hand on the doorknob, so I turn around and see she's got her arms crossed over her chest. A clear indication she didn't buy what I just tried to sell her.

"What?" I ask, trying to be as natural as I can.

"Don't you 'What?' me! I know exactly where you're going." She gives me that disapproving stare of hers. The one I really don't like when I'm caught with 'my hand in the cookie jar'.

"Oh really, and where _am_ I going?" I challenge her.

"You haven't been on patrol these past 3 days and now all of a sudden you 'need' to run out on patrol. Please I wasn't born yesterday." I start to get nervous at her observation skills and if I could get any paler than I already am I'd look like a bed sheet.

"You're going out to feed, just admit it for what it is and don't try to sugar coat it! It's even worse when you try to hide it, try to protect me from your nature." She continued and her resolve starts to crumble a bit.

Ever since the club incident I've tried to shield her from the monster she saw that night. Now I see it might not have been such a good idea, she's actually hurting, _I_ am actually hurting her with these lies I've been feeding her. I bow my head in realization and shame and take a deep breath. "Yes, I'm going out … to feed. I'm sorry I lied, I wanted to protect you. I promise, it won't happen again."

"I'm not a glass doll you know, don't … please don't lie to me anymore." She says with one of the saddest voices to date.

"I won't." I say with conviction and bite my lower lip, considering I just did right now. I turn around and disappear into the night. I could hear her exhale heavily just as I was about to disappear. I wonder why?

I stand at the front door of Dr. Miranda Lewis, getting my courage up. I still have no idea how I'm gonna get her to help Wolf. I've never been a people person before. I ring the bell and wait. Nothing, so I try again, still nothing. I could have sworn I heard voices inside. I turn around to leave but something compels me to try again, but this time I knock. "Dr. Lewis, please I know you're home, I need your help urgently."

I hear commotion inside and by the sound of it, there are at least 3 feet moving around. That gets me suspicious, but the door bursts open and a gun is shoved in my face. I'm a little surprised but it doesn't show on my face.

"Get inside!" A masked man commands me. I comply, for now. I need to assess the situation before I do something to get the Doc killed. Dr. Lewis is sitting on the sofa and looks rather terrified. I give her a nod. "Doctor, are you alright?" I ask in concern she might be hurt.

"I'm alright, thank you." She gives me a forced smile.

I sit down next to her and look at my surroundings. There are three thugs in the apartment. One's pointing his gun at us, one's making a mess of the apartment and the last one is nowhere to be seen. But I can clearly hear him cursing in the next room, I suspect he's trying to gain access to Dr. Lewis's computer. Something crashes and the Hacker, as I dubbed him, comes to us all furious.

"Give me the password you bitch!" his tone suggests no debate. The Doc is silent, obviously she doesn't want to give up her hard work to these thugs. But they're not your ordinary thugs, as indicated by the weaponry they were using, they were most likely hired to find her research, and I wonder what's so important about it.

"If you don't tell me she gets a bullet in the head!" He points at me. That gets the Docs attention. I divert my attention to the Doctor and give her a small smile:"Don't worry, he won't do it. He can't kill me!" Trying to emphasize the word 'can't', so she might get the hint. She nods with her head and stays quiet. But I got the thug a bit on edge, so he gives the order to shoot. Everything goes black.

First thing I notice is my head hurts like Hell. I curse in my mind and swear they're all gonna pay for what they just put me through. First I listen to what's going on in the room, I believe that Doc's getting a beating. I take a quick peek and notice that none of the thugs can see me. I make a little diversion to lure one of them to this room. He comes like a moth to a flame to investigate the ruckus. I let him investigate and he's already on his way back when I grab him from behind and sink my teeth into his pulsing artery. The blood rejuvenates me and makes the headache go away, like a painkiller. I drag his body behind the counter in the kitchen and go back on my "spot of death".

It doesn't take long for the Hacker to send his comrade to check on the already dead one. I don't wait that long this time, 'cause there's a chance he'll find the body and warn the Hacker. I grab him while he's walking towards the kitchen. I drain him dry like his comrade before. Now I only have the Hacker left. He must be suspicious by now and probably on edge. He's no match for me now that the other variables have been removed from the equation. I calmly sit myself in the sofa, facing the room he's gonna come from. I notice at first that his gun is pointed at the Doc's temple but as soon as he notices me he points it at me. My cue to strike. He doesn't have a chance to even pull the trigger when my hand's already around the gun. I jerk the gun from his hand and grab him by the neck. I squeeze just a bit to make him gasp for air and try to pry my hand off his neck. I grin wickedly and comment: "Interesting thing when you plead for life when you still have one, I on the other hand don't, so I didn't need to plead. However, your little circus here made me quite hungry, and not to mention the headache I got from that bullet." I scowl at the memory of that first sensation.

"Now, be so kind and do tell me who sent you and why?" I question him. I'm really curious about his answer.

He's still flailing with his legs in the air and his hands on mine "Please, I'll tell you everything, just don't kill me."

While he's pleading for his life I realize that I can't just ask the Doc to help me. She'll need to go with me and examine Wolf as to what's actually wrong with her. And she can't know where we're hiding either. Best way is to knock her unconscious, I flinch, not a very good first impression I'd wager.

As I contemplate this the Hacker starts to talk since I let him have some air.

"All I know is that we were hired to get the chick's data and any other research she might have." His voice betrays his desperate state, and I'm enjoying in his suffering.

I look him in the eyes while I turn mine electric blue: "Who hired you?"

"I don't know, I think it was some guy from Antigen, he didn't say so, but he had an emblem on his shirt." That got my attention.

"What else? Were you to kill Dr. Miranda after you obtained the research data?" I'm cool and calculated, never betraying my intention.

"Yes, we were to make it look like a robbery gone wrong." I get the feeling he's gonna pee himself any moment now.

I have enough of this whiner and I let him go, in the belief he's gonna run for the door. My calculations were amiss again. He bends down, grabs a knife in his boot and places it on Doc's neck, already drawing blood.

I take a deep breath and burry my face in my hand: "You know Doc, you're a real pain to get to talk to."

In an instant I grab his hand and twist it to an impossible angle. Something pops and in that same moment I punch the Doc unconscious too. Bad first impression, but I don't really care anymore. I'm sick of the guy so I drain him dry like I did his other two comrades. I go to the Doc's study, open her computer and rip out the hard drive. Nikki will know how to use that. I pick up the Doc and head home. Oh boy, this is going to be a mess when I walk through the door with some extra luggage.

I'm standing in front of the door, contemplating how I should execute this maneuver with as little friction as possible. At least 5 minutes pass and I'm still nowhere near a solution. I take a deep breath and just waltz in. I'll deal with it as it goes.

Nobody in the hallway, no real surprise there. I go inside and lay the Doc on the empty couch. I was expecting Nikki on it, but she seems to have gotten her beauty sleep for tonight. I go check in the kitchen first, sure that she's making herself something to eat and checking what's going on in the world and the computer society. I find the kitchen deserted, not a soul there. I do spot an empty plate on the counter. So she was here already, at that moment I hear a curse in one of the other rooms. I put away the dirty dishes and start turning towards the hallway to go seek her out when I hear yet another, much louder curse: "What the fuck?!" I flinch, because I know she just found the Doc on the couch.

"Nikki, calm down and please be quiet." I try to reason at first, but the minute her eyes lock on to mine I know I'm doomed.

"Calm down?! How the fuck am I suppose to calm down when there's a strange woman on the couch in our supposed safe house?! How did she even get here, what does she want, who is she …mph….?!" I clamp my hand over her mouth.

She's not happy about it and I can see she's gonna explode if I don't explain myself. So I remove my hand and take a deep breath: "I brought her here."

"What?! Why?!" She's starting to raise her voice again.

"Not so loud you'll wake Wolf or Miranda." I try to reason.

"Oh so now it's Miranda, is it? What else didn't you tell me? You said you were going feeding, so you lied… AGAIN !?" The last word she practically shouted. "I should have know!"

"It's not what you think, I …"

"Don't you even dare go there Claire … don't, just don't … I thought I can trust you, but it turns out you can't even keep a simple promise like not lying to me!" I can see it's hurting her but she's staying strong, probably more to prove to me she can. But these false accusations are starting to crush my resolve too.

"Nikki I didn't lie, I did feed… I ..." I was cut off yet again.

"Yes … I can still see it." She points beside her lips indicating to me that I still have some blood there. "Was she at least tasty?" She asks, practically sneering at me but beneath that is a tremble in her voice that she desperately tries to hide. Unfortunately that won't work on me, my hearing is too good for that. At first I'm totally dumb folded.

"What?!" But then it all clicks into place. She's convinced I fed on Miranda. "No you got it all wrong…" I start to explain myself.

"Claire you don't need to explain yourself to me, but that you actually brought her HERE … that's just pushing it over the edge!" Her eyes are blazing right about now. She takes a breath to continue her scrutiny but I beat her to it, my resolve is gone too

"CAN YOU JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME EXPLAIN IN PEACE?! I didn't feed on Miranda, I brought her here so she can take a look at Wolf. She's an expert on Lycans and vampires!" I'm almost out of breath at the end of the sentence. "AND if you must know so badly, I fed on her attackers that were about to stage her murder as a robbery and …" I'm interrupted by the sound in the doorway.

"The fuck can you two keep it quiet just for once!" A third voice joins our fight.

I reel towards the source and there's Wolf, pale as a sheet, barely standing on her feet. She has to be in tremendous pain to have made such a face, otherwise she'd just hide it under a mask.

"Wolf, what the Hell are you doing out of bed?!" I rush towards her to catch her before she falls and reopens her wounds.

"Hell Sucker, let go of me, you are not helping" She growls at me as she tries to free herself from me.

"Gods damn it, you stubborn piece of pelt, stop fussing, you'll reopen your wounds" I try to steady her while she tries to wriggle out of my hands.

"I will, once you get your undead hands off of me," she tries to push my hands away without success, " ... Now let go, or I will bite them off!"

"Wolf, this is the time you shove that stupid bravado of yours down the drain and let me help you back to bed. Your wounds aren't healing properly!" Her fussing isn't helping at all, it's just gonna make things worse. I hear Nikki exhaling heavily and when I throw her a quick glance her eyes are hidden behind her hand.

"That's it..." She lunges towards my left hand, sinking her fangs into my cold flesh, biting down hard.

"Argh ... fuck ... " I hold my hand in place and take the pain, pulling it away will only make it worse for the both of us.

"Oh for the love of…Will you two STOP IT? I mean right NOW!" Nikki jumps in and yells, her hand waving to the side, squeezed into a fist, while her brown eyes light up quite intensely.

Wolf stops putting the pressure on my arm, but leaves her teeth in the flesh, as we both raise our eyes towards Nikki. I blink twice as I could have sworn her irises were red for a second. It must be my imagination since they are brown after I blink.

"I can't help it if she's so gods damn stubborn." I try to defend myself.

"Wolf let go of Claire's hand!" She gives her a stern look hopping to get through her thick skull.

Wolf lowers her eyes as she releases me, spitting out the blood that she managed to draw from me.

"Urgh ..." I flex my hand a bit to get the blood flowing and the healing starting. "Owch" I direct my eyes towards Wolf.

"Now get her back to bed before you two do something stupid and then come back here to deal with your sleeping beauty that's starting to wake from all the damnable shouting" The look she's giving us is far from pleasant.

I lower my eyes and just comply silently, knowing I fucked up, yet again in a matter of one night.

"I can handle myself" Wolf winces in pain as she starts to get up, only to fall back down. Muttering under her breath, she shoots me a warning glare, that says 'if-you-touch-me-I'm-bitting-it-off-for-real'.

"Maybe ... when your body is not strewn with wounds and gashes." I catch the look she's giving me, a warning. And I give her one in return, saying 'just-try-and-you'll-regret-it'.

"Fine. But when I recover, we are gonna settle this." She relents, probably knowing that I'm right, but still too proud to admit that she's helpless right now.

"Fine!" I finally say, knowing she'll never give up on this stupidity. I turn towards Nikki: "Don't let her out of your sight!" I point at Miranda and disappear into the bedroom.

"You are not to move out of this bed until further notice, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!" I'm kind of pissed right now, because of all the shit that's just been thrown at me. "And here are the painkillers, take them!" I slap the pills on the nightstand.

"Yes mom." She's mocking me, gods damn her, she's mocking me. If blood could boil this would be the moment mine would. I just shove it down for now, because I hear a panicked Miranda in the living room.

"Where am I, who are you?" I hear Miranda question Nikki. I come in just when Nikki was gonna give her a smart remark: "You're at my place now." I cut her off and send her a look, meaning 'back-off-we'll-talk-later'.

When Miranda turned towards me and saw who _I_ am she paled. She started walking backwards and looking for an escape route. Nikki got a suspicious look on her face while I just took a deep breath knowing this is just another disaster for today. I put my face in my palm and shake my head, and at that moment Miranda bolts to the door. She has no chance against me, but Nikki was caught totally off guard. I reach her before she can touch the door and drag her back on the couch.

"Please don't kill me, I … I'll give you anything you want, I'll do whatever you want…." She pleads for her life like I'm gonna drain her dry. Then again, I did just kill 3 thugs in her apartment without flinching. While I was thinking of the events just a few minutes ago, my face turned all wicked subconsciously. Miranda's eyes became like saucers big and then I got slapped over the head.

"What the Hell did you do?" Nikki admonishes me. Before I am even able to think up an answer she continues. "You fed in front of _her_?! Are you out of your mind? Now she knows that you're a vampire, she'll report you, … and Wolf too!"

"She's not going anywhere until she fixes up Wolf. After that she can report me how many times she wants!" I shot back with a touch of venom in my voice.

Nikki's eyes actually become larger and she's out of words at my retort. I don't think I've ever been this rude with her before. Her eyes were a combination of a 'what and a why you', and she stands there speechless.

"You … you're gonna let me live?!" Miranda peeps in the conversation.

"You humans have no real value to me other than my next meal,…" I sigh, "but a certain someone has proven me wrong as of late," I look at Nikki, "and I'm willing to make a deal with you."

"My cooperation, for my life?" She asks all beaten on the subject.

"No." I'm quick with the answer, and it gets Nikki's attention.

"Then what is it you want from me exactly and what will be my payment?" I can hear some hope in Miranda's voice.

"In the bedroom is a Lycan in dire need of your expertise, I need you to find out why she's not healing normally and fix it." I explain the situation.

She raises an eyebrow in question. "A Lycan … and a vampire in the same room?! Where were you the last couple of hundred years? Lycans and vampires can't stand each other, I don't buy this bullshit." She spits back a little too arrogantly for my current state.

My eyes go electric blue and I retort back with anger. "Our living arrangement is not for debate, you will do as you are told! Your job is to figure out what's wrong with the Lycan and fix her up, in return we'll protect you against Antigen."

"I'd listen to the vampire if I were you. The alternative is very….unpleasant." Nikki cuts in, tilting her head and beneath her serious tone, I hear a light pleased tone. She was taunting her, I threw her a serious look, not amused.

"OK … OK, I'm sorry. I'll need my research data from my computer, I need to go back to my apartment." She sees I mean business this time and am not to fuck around.

"You're not going anywhere near that place, it's crawling with cops, who are most probably on Antigen's payroll. Besides I took the liberty of 'borrowing' your hard-drive from your computer." I give her a toothy smile.

"I can't do much with just the hard-drive, I'll need a computer to hook it to." She shoots back as if I didn't know that.

"Don't worry, Nikki here can fix anything computer related." I smile and point to Nikki, who's giving me the 'fuck-off' look. Me being the picture of sweetness I return it with a 'love-you-too' one. She lowers her sight onto the hard drive next to the sofa, where I casually dropped it when I dropped the Doc. I tilt my head when she kneeled down to pick it up, studying the damage it withstood. She throws me a displeased look, telling me 'you-had-to-rip-it?

"OK then, I'm guessing I'll be staying here then?" Her voice carries more determination this time.

"That wasn't exactly planned, but we'll figure something out. First, let's take care of that gash on your throat. Nikki would you please take care of that?" I turn towards Nikki in the hopes she'll be willing to do it, since I don't like being around blood too much. I'm afraid one day I'll slip again. Today was obviously some karmic joke. Nikki's face turned red, and I mean red red. "Absolutely not, you dragged her in, you can take care of that as well!" And storms into the computer room.

"It's OK, I can do it. Where do you keep the first aid?" Miranda kind of bails me out of the situation.

"The bathroom, down the hall, second door on the right." I more than gladly supply her with the required information.

She turns to leave but stops between the doors and turns around. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet, you may regret it later." My voice carries tiredness and exhaustion from today's ordeals.

She takes her time to fix up the wound and for that time I go into the computer room. I see Nikki sitting on the armchair, her attention on the hard drive I 'collected' only taking it off to greet me with a stare, not as cold as I expected but still equally intense. Yep she's pissed and I still can't believe it's because I lied to her yet again …..or maybe she's jealous. Something tells me she's not going to let this one slip by that easily.


End file.
